A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's
habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of operating".
Term
The term is often used in police work when discussing
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...
and addressing the methods employed by
criminals. It is also used in
criminal profiling
Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is an investigative strategy used by law enforcement agencies to identify likely suspects and has been used by investigators to link cases that may have been committed by the same perpetrator ...
, where it can help in finding clues to the offender's
psychology
Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...
. It largely consists of examining the actions used by the individuals to execute the crime, prevent its detection and facilitate escape.
[Douglas, J. E. and A. W. Burgess, A. G. Burgess, R. K. Ressler. ''Crime classification manual'' (]John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, i ...
, 2006) , p. 19-21. A suspect's ''modus operandi'' can assist in their identification, apprehension, or repression, and can also be used to determine links between crimes.
[Berg, B.L. ''Criminal Investigation'' ( McGraw Hill, 2008) ]
In business, ''modus operandi'' is used to describe a firm's preferred means of executing business and interacting with other firms.
Plural
The plural is (rather than ).
The word is a
gerund
In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
in the
genitive case
In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
, "of operating"; gerunds can never be pluralised in Latin, as opposed to
gerundives. When a noun with an attribute in the genitive is pluralised, only the head noun normally changes, just as in English with "of": "a fact of life, two facts of life" (unlike, for instance, in
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
).
See also
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References
Further reading
* Levinson, D. ''Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment'' (SAGE, 2002). .
* Carlo, P. ''The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez'' (Pinnacle Books 1996). .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modus Operandi
Criminal investigation
Criminology
Latin words and phrases
Offender profiling